Free is poor strategy for real estate ads
Roadmap to Recovery Q&A: Gahlord Dewald
By Inman News, Monday, February 2, 2009.
Editor's note: Inman News posed a set of questions to our readers as a part of the Roadmap to Recovery editorial project, which is charting a course forward for the real estate industry.
There are a lot of ways I think the real estate industry will look different after the "down-cline." One area with a lot of room for improvement is the use of technology beyond lead generation -- generating satisfied customers, for example.
The penetration of technology beyond the lead generation and lead qualifying tools of today into the customer service and satisfaction generation tools of tomorrow will require, once again, new skills from real estate pros. Luckily, good customer service is something the best real estate agents and brokers already understand and I think they'll do well with more responsive and direct technologies.
The following is an Inman News Q&A with Gahlord Dewald, director of Web strategy at Union Street Media:
Q: What technology trends will change the industry in the future?
A: At the end of the day, I don't think it's about technology trends. It's about examining the core business and making decisions about what kind of business real estate is going to be, and then applying technologies that are in line with those decisions. If business owners aren't proactive about understanding their audience, online as well as offline, then they will be susceptible to the same pressures exerted on the "star-bellied Sneeches."
That said, I think decision-makers should be participating in conversations about content creation, "local" and "mobile." Those three areas should be enough to keep a business owner awake for the next year. There are great resources online and offline for understanding how these conversations can improve business.
Q: What skills will the real estate agent of the future require?
A: The same as today: flexible and engaged mind; comfort with technology; customer service. What's really nice is that these are all skills. You can acquire them if you don't have them already.
Q: How will real estate advertising dollars be spent in the future? How will real estate marketing be different?
A: I'm hopeful that people will stop bragging about how little they spend on advertising while at the same time spending countless hours trying to get to page one on Google. I'm also hopeful that more attention will be paid to using online tools to measure offline actions (like print campaigns, etc).
The big shift will be in the method by which advertising decisions are made, not necessarily the channels used to deliver the messages. Instead of advertising somewhere because the competition does or because it is a traditional place to advertise, marketing budgets will be spent to achieve measurable business objectives.
The market research and intelligence derived from marketing activities will also be recognized. The strategy, tactics and tools to collect and act on this sort of thing continues to filter into smaller and smaller organizations. We already have access to excellent free or inexpensive tools.
I guess I'm hopeful that advertising will shift from a tactical "promote a house" activity into a more strategic "deploy message/widget/content/advertising on relevant channel to sell a house to a satisfied customer quickly in my market" process.
Gahlord Dewald is director of Web strategy for Union Street Media, a company that creates real estate Web sites for agents and brokers that are integrated with property-search and lead-management tools.
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Submitted by Kevin Schmidtchen on February 2, 2009 - 4:53am.
Interesting post....nothing to new but just restating that obvious. Work hard and smart and be adaptable while always having good customer/personal skills.
www.SantaBarbaraRealEstateVoice.com
Kevin Schmidtchen
Sotheby's Int'l Realty
Submitted by Catherine Read on February 2, 2009 - 5:37am.
Very sound advice and right on target. I too am baffled by the strategies employed to get a website at the top of the search results only to have pages of content that are meaningless to the reader. There are way too many "experts" writing content for search engines instead of consumers. And search engines don't buy houses. We can only hope that with more experience the industry as a whole will produce better online content going forward.
Catherine S. Read
Creative Read, Inc.
Submitted by Tony Spencer on February 2, 2009 - 5:46am.
This comment struck me as misguided:
"I'm hopeful that people will stop bragging about how little they spend on advertising while at the same time spending countless hours trying to get to page one on Google."
People exert this energy to rank well in the natural search results because it is the single most powerful form of advertising and if you're currently doing PPC you know just how cut throat and expensive it is. SEO will always be a powerful tactic.
Submitted by Gahlord Dewald | Thoughtfaucet on February 2, 2009 - 8:32am.
Hi Tony (and everyone else),
By not recognizing the value of time, the hard costs of SEO can appear very attractive. But it might not be as good as focusing on customer service.
Maybe the shortest way to say it is: your time is valuable. It's worthwhile to compare the costs of your time vs the costs of other advertising methods.
I don't think I am qualified to categorize any specific marketing channel as the "single most powerful form of advertising" because everyone's businesses and personal strengths vary. Technology and marketing channels should be deployed to complement those strengths.
For example, the video tactics deployed by GaryVee are not targeted at improving his SEO. I doubt he would consider SEO to be his single most powerful form of advertising.
SEO is important, but it's just one piece of the mix. Just because the cost appears to be free doesn't mean it's the best piece of the mix for everyone.
G. Dewald | Union Street Media | Real Estate Internet Marketing Blog
Submitted by Kris Arnebeck | PogoPad on February 2, 2009 - 10:32am.
Gahlord's point about shifting from a tactical to a strategic decision making process is right on. People that understand this distinction will be better positioned for long-term success.
Strategic marketing decisions may include identifying a target market, creating a compelling message, and choosing the best way to communicate that message. Measuring the results of tactical efforts (SEO, print campaigns, etc) enables you to see how well your strategy is working.
And to follow up about SEO...it might be part of the strategy, but it should not BE the strategy!
Submitted by TReXGlobal on February 2, 2009 - 2:43pm.
I totally agree that business owners must understand their audience, online as well as offline. For example, investors are a huge opportunity in the current market, but agents who don't understand the simple needs of this market will not be able to serve it.
In our webinars, we teach agents that using FREE marketing tools that are intelligent - like free property management software for real estate investors - can be far more successful than any type of advertising. You can learn more about our webinar at this URL: www.trexglobal.com/property-management-software/i/webinar.htm
Niman Singh
www.TReXGlobal.com/Partner - Real Estate Web Tools for Marketing to Investors
Submitted by George Farmer on February 2, 2009 - 3:59pm.
Its true hours spent buildings links is time not selling any properties
www.landincorporated.com Land For sale Ads
www.naturalproperties.com Upstate SC Real Estate & Forestry
Submitted by Jose Lopez on February 2, 2009 - 6:43pm.
Internet. That is the way of the future. If you want to really compete in the future real estate market, you will have a strong web presence.
Jose Lopez
www.sellsarasota.com
www.fl-repos.com
Submitted by Teresa Boardman on February 3, 2009 - 3:45am.
I am on page one in position one on the major search engines. It wasn't all that much work it happened over time. I have been in that position since early 2006 and have found that my advertising expenses went down. There can only be one top position on page one of the search engines, I think people miss that point as they compete to reach the top. I have always believed in tracking my marketing dollars and measuring there effectiveness. I did stop advertising in the local paper because the prices kept going up while at the same time the effectiveness went down. I am advertising in two small local months papers and am liking the results.